How do you feel historical fiction can influence the way we look at history?
Accurate historical fiction can open up discovery and interest in periods of time to help us learn more about a particular period. I felt this book while based in history is probably more science fiction
Honestly, I never enjoyed historical fiction until about 2-3 years ago when I was surprised by how many books in that genre I really really enjoyed. I think they often show us the lesser known facts of the history that we didn’t hear or learn about. Even though it’s fiction, some of these situations are based on actual facts, so it’s been really eye opening to learn more about it.
To me historical fiction makes history come to life. It offers images and situations that my imagination builds upon to intensify my understanding of history. Often those situations and characters act as a link to my life experiences.
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Hopefully, historical fiction can be our teacher so we don’t continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Historical fiction can certainly tell us more about the past and help us have an new appreciation of what people of yesteryear experienced.
Historical fiction can introduce people to history that was unknown to the reader or even teach new facts about history that you never knew.
For example, I knew a little about the Vietnam conflict.
I read The Women by Kristin Hannah. Even though it was historical fiction, it had facts in it. I never new about how the women , the nurses were treated when they came home. It was an eye opener.
There has been historical fiction that I read that led me to start reading nonfiction on whatever the subject of the fiction book I read.
So, yes historical fiction can be influential to history by helping us to want to learn more about history.
I worry about those who only read historical fiction and take the fiction parts for truth. I applaud those who may be inspired to find out what is fact or fiction.
I read a lot of historical fiction, especially World War II-era. I learn a great deal because I endeavor to read books that are well-researched and grounded in actual events/people. There are so many untold tales of heroism & bravery inspired by truth. I really enjoy a fictional spin on history.
For me, historical fiction opens up the personal side of history and helps me understand what it was like to live in particular times and places in ways that non-fiction accounts often don’t. (One exception is works of narrative non-fiction, such as Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, that can also show individual human experiences very powerfully.). Often when I read a work of historical fiction, I’m intrigued to learn more, and I find myself reading further to understand the details of the actual historical events. As a middle school and high school student, I never found history classes to be very interesting, but through historical fiction I have come to love learning about history. More broadly, as so many have said, reading builds empathy. Historical fiction can build our empathy for people in other times and places, and through that empathy, we can imagine new possibilities for our present and future circumstances and for people different from ourselves.
I agree with Kathleen. History can seem so dry and abstract if you don’t consider the human stories behind it. Reading historical fiction and doing additional research has broadened my knowledge of history.
I love reading historical fiction. It really helps you understand history and the variety of books out there brings things to you from various perspectives. I learn so much I wish history in schools was taught using stories instead of just memorizing dates as when I was younger
HIstorical fiction is an ideal way to look at the different experiences, actions, and beliefs of people who lived through the period in question. By illuminating the circumstances of the time – the challenges people faced, the different prevailing viewpoints, etc. – readers can gain a better understanding of all the nuances and, by getting to know fictional characters, feel empathy, compassion, and, perhaps, unity with their real counterparts and contemporaries.